You Don't Have to be Talented, Just Work Hard
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. Stephen King
I believe in talent.
I believe in hard work.
Talent without hard work is useless.
Talent without hard work can’t get you to your goals.
Hard work without talent will get you to your goals.
” Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” — Kevin Durant
I started writing on medium late last year. And ever since I have been improving on my writing skills through reading and writing more.
Many people think you need to be talented before you can do some certain things like being a creative or an artist.
Reading the book Mindset by Carol Dweck changed my perspective and view on that.
Adopting a growth mindset approach gets you closer to your goal than having a fixed mindset.
You don’t need to be talented before you try something. You just need to put in the work.
“Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy”? Robert Half
Sometimes, we use the word talent to cover up our fault when we can’t put in the work or time for a particular project we want to do.
Hard work is always the baseline of great achievements says Thomas Oppong.
The truth is that we all have our own advantage over the next person in whatever it is we want to do.
Micheal Phelps abnormal growth was his own advantage over his fellow swimmers. And with hard work, he was able to excel.
Micheal Jordan strength and resilience were his own advantage over his mate. And with hard work, he excelled. The list goes on.
Find your own advantage, and combine it with hard work to excel.
Many people get scared when they hear the word hard work. Hard work is only a word for consistency and nothing more.
I got back home last night. And my brother told me three people shared my writing from my medium to his timeline yesterday. I told him that’s nice.
The next thing he said was am beginning to believe you don’t need to have talent before you set out to do something.
I didn’t say anything but deep down I was happy that he said it because it is something we have argued over before.
Getting organized is hard work. Setting goals, making plans to achieve them, and staying on track is hard work.
” The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” — Thomas A. Edison
Show up
If you are willing to show up every day, you will make incremental progress
You want to do something or learn a new skill. You need to show up every day.
One of the mistakes we make in modern times is that we always want to do our work when inspired.
You don’t do something when you are feeling inspired. You do it whether you are inspired or not. You need to show up.
As Steven Press field puts it in his book Turning Pro, the pro does not wait for inspiration only an amateur.
If you want to become a writer, you need to write every day. Same too for other arts as well.
Sportsman and athletes don’t come to training when they feel like. They show up to their work and practice every day whether they feel like or not.
You have won half of the battle if you will commit in showing up every day. The rest is left up to skill, knowledge, drive and execution says Jeff Olson in his book The Slight Edge.
Consistency
Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
This is the part most people do the hardest work. But once you know how to break it down, it becomes the easiest.
When I started writing, I write anytime I feel like. Not until I read Srinivas Rao article where he said amateurs write when they feel like. Professionals write every day.
One way to write every day is to observe what goes on around you. Talk to people, read books, how your day went, your thought or anything you can get hold off write it down.
Once you get the idea of what to write about. Choose one of three things you hope to achieve with your write up.
Do you want to entertain, educate or inspire? Learnt this from Ayodeji Awosika.
Once you do that, create a body around what the topic is and edit it once done.
It was difficult for me to write every day, but the moment I figured out a way around it, it became easier for me.
Showing up consistently is where the magic happens.
Consistency yields results.
When you focus on consistency, you trust the process rather than the outcome.
When you focus on consistency, you won’t dwell on statistics. Because if you dwell on statistics, you get short-sighted. But if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.
There are no short cuts to success? hard work is smart work.” Jonah Engler
Keep learning
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin Powell
Always remain a student to keep learning and improving.
The moment you stop learning, you are already dying.
It is one thing to show up and one another to be consistent, but if you aren’t learning new things am sorry you won’t go far.
The best sport man, athletes, best-selling authors are still learning better ways to do their art or craft.
Learning should be at the forefront of our work.
Through reading other peoples work here on Medium has improved my writing skills. And that is because I read on medium every day of the week for 30 minutes or an hour at least.
When you practice, You learn. When you learn, you progress. And Progressive means success is a process and not a destination.
Value progress, no matter how small. By showing up and working consistently, you will make progress, every day.
” Success is dependent upon the glands — sweat glands.” — Zig Ziglar
Hard work is challenging, painful and uncomfortable. But it’s the only way to the top. In fact, a major key to success is to learn to enjoy challenging work and to enjoy working hard at it.
You can’t know everything. That is why there is always room for improvement. And the only way to improve is through learning and persistent practice.
Focus on the process of becoming great at what you do and everything else will fall into place.
Remaining a student is one of the most valuable skills one can learn.
John Wheeler puts it bests when he said as our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Learn every day on what you can do to improve yourself or your craft, and always remain a student.
I end this article with one of my favourite quotes “Work hard, and you will earn good rewards. Work smart, and you will earn great rewards. Work hard, and work smart, and you will earn extraordinary rewards”??Matshona Dhliwayo
